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EuroCosplay 2017 Preliminaries

Abunai! will host the Dutch preliminaries for EuroCosplay 2017! Please read the rules carefully in order to prevent disappointment or cancellations. Have fun while preparing for this great show and maybe you will go to the United Kingdom to represent the Netherlands.

These prelims will be on Sunday August 27th.

Sign-Up Rules

You must be:

At least 18 years old on or after October 27th 2017.

A registered citizen or permanent resident for at least 3 years of the country the Partner Event takes place in.

Not directly involved with the organisation of a Partner Event.

Hold a valid passport or a visa for the United Kingdom.

We need to know your real name and character’s names in the “Character(s) (required)” field in the template below.

Acts must be at least one minute (60 seconds) and may last a maximum of two minutes (120 seconds).

You can participate alone or in a group. A group may include a maximum of 8 participants.

After your sign-up we will send you the script template. You can send the script template back by bundles as either a.zip or .rar, or as a download link for us by using wetransfer.com or other archive websites, like Dropbox or Google Drive. This also counts for when you have to update a script or wish to adjust your audio for after the selection round!

Your files should be named according to this order: Name – Cosplay name – script 1. Script 1 can be adjusted to Script 2 and will make it clear to us when it is updated.

We will notify you if your sign-up has been received.

Dates & Deadlines:

You can sign up for the Eurocosplay prelims by filling in the sign up template below the rules. You can do this until the 30th of June 2017. By this date we will need your sign up template, script and audio-visual materials.

The results of the selection round will be given around the 25th of July

Before the selection round is over, we do not accept changes to the script. After the selection round, the selected groups may send in an updated script until the 1st of August 2017. (These can only be minor updates, not a completely different script.)

Providing us with as much material as possible will give us a better idea of your act and will help us out a lot during the approval process.

You will receive the times for the rehearsal around the 14st of August.

If you cancel your act after the 10th of August 2017 without a legitimate reason, your submission to the Eurocosplay prelims for the next year will be put on the waiting list.

Act Submission Rules:

A script template will be sent to you after you have signed up. You must fully fill in the template’s section for props and equipment. (Chairs, tables, as well as microphones etc.). Scripts that do not follow these rules will be rejected.

Put clear technical cues into the script. (See explanation in the template.) (We expect you to tell us at what time you want your lights to go on or off.)

Pictures can only be used for clarification, not for artistic value.

Any act theme is accepted, except for original characters

Acts with inappropriate language, nudity or intensive violence will be rejected without question.

Anything that makes the stage dirty or slippery that cannot be cleaned up quickly is forbidden. Dust or powder on stage are a no go, however paper or fabric scraps are a good alternative.

Energetic performance including running, martial arts, dancing, etc. will require further assurance regarding the skills of the performers. We reserve the right to interrupt performances because of safety reasons.

Fireworks, smoke or any other methods that cause an open flame or explosion are not allowed.

Providing us with as much material as possible will give us a better idea of your act and will help us out a lot during the approval process.

You have to warn us beforehand if you want someone to take your pictures during the show.

Audio-visual material is allowed. The following combinations of audio-visual material are possible:

Video with embedded audio

Audio only

A still image

A self-made video with changing images, with or without embedded audio

Audio-visual material submission rules

Audio

Audio is not mandatory

If you do a‘live’ performance, let us know before the deadline of the submission. We are unsure of how many microphones we will have available so keep this in mind. We recommend pre-recording your act to avoid mistakes on stage during the show. If you want to make sure we know that you have a ‘live’ performance add it to your file name ( Name – Cosplay name – script 1- Live act)

For audio you can use one of the following formats:

MP3, AAC

Audio files should be of very good quality. The speakers will make it sound grainy otherwise.

Compressed bit rate for MP3 should be at least 128 kbit/s, fixed, or 192 kbit/s VBR. Compressed bit rate for AAC should be at least 96 kbit/s.

Don’t use recordings of TV audio, unless you’re an expert who knows how to cancel out all the noise.

If you want to have audio start at X seconds / minute(s)you have to mix that in yourself. We start audio from the start, so if you want this, make sure it’s silent until that moment you want to use it in the file.

Notify issues in time, deadline of sending in updates and fixes counts for this as well. Two weeks before the conventions is far too late.

Video

Video is not mandatory

The following files are accepted:

AVI, MKV, MP4, MPG

We don’t accept any other files than the ones listed above.

You can use one of the following codexes:

DivX, Xvid, H.264, MPEG2

It always has to be MOD16. A minimum of [4:3] 640×480 resolution is required. Anything larger/in HD in also fine.

For video we use at least a bit rate of 1000 kbit/s

All video needs 5 seconds of black screen at the end.

Use a good quality video if you download from the internet. Crunchyroll or Youtube might provide a very poor quality. Preferably use DVD or Blu-ray material.

Images

Images are not mandatory, but you can choose to show one image throughout your act.

You can choose any images as long as they apply to your act.

If you want to use multiple images, make a collage or a slideshow video. (Check the video rules.)

The following files are accepted:

JPG, JPEG, PNG

We don’t accept any other type of image.

The resolution of the image must be at least 640×480. Obviously enlarged images that become blurred will not be accepted.

For the collage or slideshow we accept the following formats:

PPT, PPT, ODP

Slideshows should have a minimum resolution of 1024×786

At the Convention

Rehearsal

You have to be at the rehearsals. If you are late or do not show up, you will be disqualified. If you cannot make it on time inform us about it. DO NOT SEND AN E-MAIL. If you’re at the convention talk to one of the staff/ gophers/ stewards about it. E-mails will not be looked at during the convention.

If you have a legitimate reason for missing or being late to the rehearsal, you must let us know no later than a week after you have received the rehearsal schedule.

If you fail to inform us on time you will be put on the blacklist, which will prevent you from joining the next year.

The rehearsal is not for you to practice your act, but for the technical crew to make sure the sounds and lights are working correctly and to practice technical cues.

We do not accept new audio-visual material or requests during the rehearsal. However, it is always appreciated to bring along your newest files on a back-up system,, just in case something goes wrong.

Competition

By participating in this competition you give us the right to record your act, which will be put online. This material is used for promotional purposes, all right reserved to us.

If you want your act to be filmed by anyone else besides our camera crew, you can request this through e-mail up to a week before the convention.

There will be a short break between the rehearsal and the actual competition.

All group members must be present (backstage) 30 minutes before the show is scheduled to start and you are not allowed to leave before the show starts. If there are delays, you have to be present anyway!

The order in which the acts are set will be decided by the staff and is not open for discussion.